


Second Chances

by Merfilly



Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: F/M, Possibly Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-06
Updated: 2007-12-06
Packaged: 2017-12-14 07:54:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/834498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joey adapts to life once more... and has reason to hope.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Second Chances

With everything that had gone on, and the stress of it, Joey really hadn't had a lot of time to settle into his own skin, let alone the team. Once they finally figured out how to contain Match, and he could let the clone go, he pushed away from everything, spending time getting his paints, a guitar, everything he needed to be at peace and search himself, while adapting to the much changed world he now had to live in.

Getting to know Rose, first of all, was both a frustration and a delight. He vaguely remembered his mother mentioning that she suspected Slade had a bastard child, whether or not the infuriating man knew it. Rose reminded him some of Grant, with her impetuousness and temper, but also of better days for his father. It was comforting in some ways, to have that, even as it pushed an ache deeper in others.

The team was so different. His friends had moved on, most of them. He did like the new ability to send text messages. That helped him stay in touch with Donna, with Dick, even with Roy. But the ones he lived with, they were a challenge, trying to fit in and know them, to be able to read them the way he had been able to with his own team.

The biggest stranger of all, was the one he had most wanted to know, before the world had shifted against them. Raven held herself aloof from the younger members, kept her distance with both Cyborg and the occasional presence of Beast Boy. Getting that story had required a chat with Robin, a boy who could not be farther from his prior namesakes than if he tried.

Raven had dated.

That point alone made Joey feel some hope. He just had to find the right course to take, the right way to bring himself back to her attention...and remind her of what he had felt then, the emotions that still ran deep in his veins. No matter what he had felt toward Kole, it was Raven he wanted to give a real try at a relationship with.


End file.
